Lingerie suspender



930 M. L. HELMBOLD ET AL 1,733,470

LINGERIE SUSPENDER Filed Aug. 15, 1927 Zlnmntozs d w me a m G .T E GK mm EN a 61m: unis Patented Dec. 2, 1930 IJUNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE MARGARET." L; H L BQLD' AND FRAN T. OZMALLEY, or s'r. PAUL, MINNESOTA LINGERIE SUSPENDER Application filed. August 15, 1927. Serial No. 212,8901

Our invention. relates to lingerie suspenders for supporting. a number of undergarrily varying in width and differingin color not only from each other, but also-from the outer garment, which oftimes is of sheer ma- 1 terial through which the varied sized and colored straps are visible. In wearing several pairs. of such straps upon the shoulders, the same are difiicult to keep in place,'one strap or the other sliding more or less over 15 the shoulder, with the resultthat the wearer is constantly annoyed with replacing the straps under the outer garment, not only to make them comfortable in wear, but also to render the same less unsightly. And such 20 continued readjustment, of suchstraps made by pulling and hitching upon the outer garment quickly results in the soiling and wrinkling of said outer garment and oftimes in serious injury to the material thereof. e,

An. object, of our invention is to provide means, which eliminate the ordinary re quirement of shoulder straps on the individual garments, such means comprising but one pair of straps with novel fastening de- 3 vices at their ends to which a plurality of garments may be conveniently attached and heldat front and back of the wearer.

Another object. is to provide garment sup-' porting means, as above, wherein the straps are constructed of sightly elastic materlal and. rendered adjustable to readily adapt such means for the various uses of various persons inthe wearmg of varlous garments.

A further object is toprovide novel and hereinafter de- In the drawings, Fig. 1 is a view illustrating a form of our invention in use for supporting the undergarments of a wearer Fig. 2 is an enlarged perspective viewillustrating the frontendzof a suspender and showing the attaching member and the sheath portion of. the clasp'at said end of said suspender; Fig. 3 is aview. similar to Fig. 2' showing the rear end of the suspender andthe clasp parts. at said end thereof; Fig. 4 is anenlargedview showing the attaching member of the clasp in. elevation and the sheath thereof in. section, said sheath being illustrated in'position yieldingly locked upon the attaching member, and Fig; 5 is a sectionalview illustrating the attaching member and sheath of a clasp, said view being takenon the line 55 of Fig. 4. l

For illustrating the application of our in vention, we have shown in Fig. 1, a user wear ing an undergarment indicated in its entirety at A and including aibodice provided with the usual hem 1'1. and draw-string 12 at the upper portion thereof.

Gur improved lingeriesuspenders are il lustrated in. place over the users shoulders with the attaching clasps of' said suspenders applied tozsaid hem 11' of the bodice. Each suspender of a given pairiis identicalwith the other and. includes a shoulder strap 13 with identical clasps B at thczendszthereofl Each clasp. B comprises antattachingmember G an'dzsheathiDforwsaidinember. The attachingrmember- C, is preferably constructed of a single strand of wire "bent. so that the medial portionof the-wire forms a bar 14; at the ends of which are inwardly turned hooks, each consisting ofi a.sliank-:15 depending from the bar 14, a crook asat 16, and aipin portion 17 issuing, upwardly: fronrthe crool and slightly outwardfrom the bar 14:, said pin portion 17 extending above's'aidf bar and provided with apointed tip-18 curved slightly outward.

V The strap 13 is preferably formed of material. knownas silkelastic. An attaching memberC is fastened to one endofthe strap by looping said strap about the bar 1 1 and sewing the loop. together. by means of a seam 19; A! companion attaching member Cfisapplied to the other end of the strap,

the application thereof to said strap being preferably accomplished by looping the strap about the bar 14 of said companion member C and adjustably fastening the extremity of the strap to the body thereof as by means of a conventional buckle member 20, whereby the length of the strap between its attached members C may be readily varied at will to suit any garment or any user.

The sheaths D for the two attaching members of each suspender are threaded on'the strap 13 best seen in Figs. 2 and 3, each sheath being open at top and bottom to permit of such threading on the strap and being constructed of a strip of sheet metal or other suitable material bent to form a front wall 21, rear wall 22 and end walls 23. Each sheath D slides along the strap 13 and slips over its respective attaching member C, the end walls 23 of the sheat sliding along the sides of the hook shanks 15, the front wall 21 passing along the tips 18 of the pin portion 17 of the hooks and the rear wall 22 passing along the back of said hook shanks. The hook shanks 15 are kinked toward each other near their lower ends as at 24 (Fig. 4) to form latching hollows within which inwardly extending humps 25 on the end walls 23 of the sheath. D are adapted to engage. These humps 25, formed by indenting the material of the end walls 23, catch in the hollows of said kinks 24 causing the hook shanks 15 and sheath D to co-operate in yieldingly holding the sheath in place on the attaching member C and in providing a stop for the sheath in the application thereof to said member. Said hook shanks 15 converge slightly toward the bar 14 so that the humps 25 in the end walls 23 of the sheath D amply clear said shanks in passing therealong to and from the latching hollows formed by the kinks 24 in said shanks, said end walls of the sheath being relatively inclined to conform with the relative angularity of said shanks 15.

With the sheath D in place upon an attaching member C, the front wall 21 of the former, guards the pin portions 17 of the latter (Fig. 5). In addition to the above described coacting humps 25 and kinks 24, we have shown additional means for keeping the sheath D in place upon the attaching member C, said means being provided in pockets 26 formed by indenting, from the inner side, the upper marginal portion of the front wall 21 of the sheath D. The outwardly curved ends 18 of the pin portions 17 register with these pockets 26 when the sheath D is in place upon the attaching member C and yieldingly bear against those portions of the wall 21 distorted in forming said pockets. It will be noted in Fig. 5, that said portions of said wall 21 are inclined outwardly and that a cam-like coaction thereof with the outwardly curved tips 18 of the pin portions 17 causes the sheath D to be yieldingly held down in place upon the attaching member C. Outwardly flared guides 27 formed at the lower marginal portion of the front wall 21 of the sheath D, by indenting said wall from the inner side thereof, receive the points 18 of the normally outwardly canted pin portion 17 of the attaching member C when the sheath D is slid along the strap 13 and onto member C. Receiving said points 18 of the pin portions 17 as aforesaid, said guides 27, owing to the inclination of the inner surfaces thereof, cause said points to be pressed back within the sheath to the inner surface proper of the wall 21 upon which said points slide until they enter the pockets 26 at the final stage of seating said sheath D on said attaching member C.

In applying the suspenders, the user, after sliding the sheaths D from the attaching members C at the rear ends of the straps 13, passes the pin portions 17 of the hooks of said members through all of the garments to be supported at the back, the points 18 passing through the hems of said garments from the inner sides of said hems. Thereafter the sheaths D are passed over the attaching members G into pin guarding position (Fig. The straps 13 are then passed over the shoulders (Fig. 1) and the attaching members C at the forward ends of the straps applied to the hems of the garments at the front, in the same manner in which the attaching members C at the rear ends of the straps 13 were applied to the garments at the rear, any desired shortening of the straps being then accomplished by taking up said straps in the loops about the bars 14 of the front attaching members C and resetting the adjusting buckles 20.

From the foregoing it will be understood that our invention is particularly advantageous in that it eliminates the use of the ordinary straps on the individual undergarments. The suspender straps of this invention being adjustable and obtainable in any desired color permits the user to match her outer garments in color and to accurately adjust said straps to the end that a minimum of inconvenience is suffered in keeping the same in place upon her shoulders. The pin clasps C securely hold the garments to which they are attached without tearing of the fabric and the sheaths D, which may be ornamented in any desired manner, as by engraving, e1nbossing or plating, are safe against being misplaced by reason of the fact that they are threaded on the straps. These sheaths are readily applied to and removed from the attaching members of the clasps and are firmly held in place upon the attaching members by simple and effective co-operation therewith.

Changes in the specific form of our invention, as herein disclosed, may be made within the scope of what is claimed without departing from the spirit of our invention.

Having described our invention, what we claim as new and desire to protect by Letters Patent is:

1. In an article of the class described, a clasp comprising an attaching member constructed of a single strand of wire and formed with a transverse bar, hook shanks depending from said bar and terminating in inturned crooks at their lowermost extremities, pin portions extending upwardly from said crooks, and a sheath for enveloping said attaching member, said shanks being kinked adjacent said crooks, and inwardly extending humps formed on said sheath adapted to engage the hollows formed by said kinks for holding said sheath locked upon said attaching member.

' 2. A clasp comprising an attaching member including a transverse bar and having a hook formed with a pin portion connected therewith, said pin portion being disposed in proximity to said bar, a flexible member attached to said bar, and a sheath mounted upon said attaching member and adapted to sheath said pin portion and also envelope said flexible member at its point of attachment to said bar.

, 3. A clasp comprising an attaching member having a pair of spaced hooks and a sheath slidable on said member, said sheath having interconnected side and end walls adapted to envelope said hooks, said sheath serving to completely conceal said attaching member except forthe lowermost portion of said hooks.

4. A clasp comprising an attaching member having a hook formed with a pin portion, a sheath slidable on said member, means formed at one end of said sheath for directing said pin portion within said sheath, and means formed at the other end of said sheath cooperating with said pin portion for locking said sheath relative to said attaching member.

5. A clasp comprising an attaching member having a hook formed with a pin portion, a sheath slidable on said member and formed with a face adapted to cover said pin portion, a guide formed along the lower edge of said face for directing said pin portion beneath said face, and a pocket formed at the upper edge of said face in alignment with said guide for cooperating with said pin portion to hold the sheath locked upon said attaching member.

6. A clasp comprising an attaching member constructed of a single strand of wire and formed with a transverse bar, hook shanks depending fro-1n said bar, hooks on the ends of said shanks, pin portions extending upwardly from said hooks, said hooks being turned toward one another to bring said pin portions closer to one another than said shanks, a sheath for sheathing said pin portions having portions adapted to ride along said shanks, and guides formed on said sheath inwardly from the edges thereof for engagement with said pin portions to direct the same into said sheath.

7. A clasp comprising an attaching member constructed of a single length of wire and including a transverse bar, inturned hooks at the end of said bar terminating in pin portions, each hook comprising a depending shank, a kink formed in each shank adjacent said hooks, a sheath for enveloping said attaching member, and means formed on said sheath cooperating with said kinks for locking said sheath upon said attaching member.

8. A clasp comprising an attaching member having a hook formed with a pin portion and a sheath slidable relative thereto, said pin portion being bent at the extreme end thereof, and means bent from said sheath 7 to conform to the bend in said pin portion and cooperating therewith for locking the pin and sheath from movement relative to one another.

9. A clasp comprising an attaching member including a. pair of shanks, hooks formed on said shanks, pin portions formed on said hooks, said hooks being turned toward one another to cause said pin portions and shanks to lie in planes in close proximity to one another.

10. A clasp comprising an attaching member including a shank, a hook formed on said shank, a pin portion formed on said hook and extending in the same direction as said shank, a sheath slidable relative to said shank and pin for sheathing said shank and pin portion, and means formed on said sheath at the end thereof remote from said hook for sheathing said pin and locking said sheath in place upon said pin and shank.

11. In a device of the present character, an attaching member including a clothes engaging element and a connecting element, a flexible strap secured to said connecting element and a sheath slidable from unsheathing position on the strap to sheathing position on the attaching member and back to the strap, said sheath in said latter position serving to shield the clothes engaging element of the attaching member and also the connection between the connecting element of said member and the strap and, in said first posi tion on the strap, being clear of the attaching member.

In testimony whereof we have aflixed our signatures to this specification.

MARGARET L. HELMBOLD. FRANK T. OMALLEY. 

